When Finnish backpackers Lina and Stephie decided to head to Australia for the "trip of a lifetime" it's not quite where they expected to end up. On your first shift, you're ogled and propositioned by the local men who have no qualms in announcing the game is on to see who'll "bag" the first one. You don't have your own car and are relying on the same locals who've made you fear for your safety in the pub in order to go anywhere else. Mr Gleeson said the unique, no-nonsense character of the people in the region, which attracted him in the first place, was what made the film what it was. surprisingly moving portrait of small town insularity, fragile masculinity and Maybe they were showing off, or scared of being hurt, says Lina. '[We] didn't want to lose the job, because we needed the money. As Hotel Coolgardie makes clear, when young inexperienced women are bussed into remote towns like this to take on "barmaid" work, there's a risk that they aren't just being employed to do their job and be treated as fully human workers. 22.09 mi from city center. Coolgardie GoldRush Motels. Fully refundable Reserve now, pay when you stay. 'Dark' outback documentary, Hotel Coolgardie, holds mirror to remote Australia's culture, There is an emergency bushfire warning in place for Maintongoonin Victoria. Come and enjoy a coffee and cake, Steak, Parmie, Fish & Chips ( snapper ) $12.50 and lots more, from 10am daily. Coolgardie Hotels Coolgardie, Australia Accommodation Deals Check In / / Check Out / / Guests Deals Free cancellation No prepayment needed Properties with special offers Price -$1 - -$1 Popular & up 3 Free parking 3 3 stars 1 B&Bs & Inns 3 Amenities Free parking 3 Restaurant 2 Pet friendly 1 Air conditioning 2 Show more Distance from There's a restaurant serving Australian cuisine, and free private parking is available. The situation between the employer and the employee in Coolgardie would never happen in our home country which made it even harder to try to accept it and to be quiet, when you have grown up your whole life learning what is right and what is wrong.. They delved deep into the Australian outback on the hunt for a job and they landed in a mining town called Coolgardie, a small dot on the map about 550km east of Perth, with a population of about . Please try again later. If Hotel Coolgardie has a hero, he is it hes the lone resident who comes to Lina and Stephs defence. RIP Canman, a good dude. It sounds like the beginnings of a horror movie, and in many ways it is. No woman in this day and age should be subjected to a workplace where a culture of sexual harassment is accepted, regardless of the job's location. We didnt even notice after the first day or two that we had a film crew surrounding us all the time., However, despite how tough their time in Coolgardie might have been, in retrospect Lina can see the lighter side of it. I'm not allowed to pick them up cos I'll scare them away. Critics Consensus 93% HD; Documentary; 1 Hour 23 Minutes 2017; 5.0 1 Rating; Downtown Coolgardie, where the flies are very friendly. "They don't get off on the right foot, they don't adapt well," Gleeson said. I was crying, and I was angry: Hotel Coolgardie's shocking portrait of sexism in the outback | Film | The Guardian. Very good filming where you forget there is a camera and it is quite clear the people in this documentary forgot the camera quickly as well. "So when you're in that, nothing really seems abnormal.". The relationship between backpackers and the Australian outback is a popular subject for fictional horror film, but according to new documentaryHotelCoolgardiethe reality is almostas disturbing. "I don't think it had to be quite as red-neck as it was made out," another man said after the screening. To that Gleeson, laughing, responds: What, the dark old ages of 10 years ago? As director Pete Gleeson tells Fairfax Media, "how the women adapted to the dominant culture determined everything, from whether they could have enjoyable tourist experiences, to whether they could get a lift into town to buy groceries, to even their meals". For me, if youre part of something you love whether its a country, or a footy team, or a management team, or anything if you love it, I think you should be able to shake it around a bit, pressure test it, make sure its the best that it can be. But the story is real. Coolgardie is located 550 kilometres east of Perth, approximately 40 kilometres west of Kalgoorlie, and 187 kilometres north of Norseman. With no security to back them up, and with a boss whose singular concern is how quickly they're refilling the customers' drinks, the two girls are left to navigate on their own these often increasingly threatening interactions, almost all of which are predicated on the men's sense of sexual entitlement and expectation. Get The New Daily free every morning and evening. one drinker asks the pair. The film is another setback for Goldfields leaders aiming to move beyond the region's notoriously blokey image. What is the English language plot outline for Hotel Coolgardie (2016)? Hotel Coolgardie is now available to stream on DocPlay and Amazon Prime Video. "There's humour in it, and there's great pathos in it; it's not just about two girls who come out to the Goldfields and have a crap time.". Even their boss hurls insults at them, calling them 'stupid' and asking: 'You eat seals and s***, don't cha? But director Pete Gleeson said there was more to the film that the portrayal of drunken locals. He recently told ABC News: We thought it might have been filmed 1012 years ago.. Its a premise right out of Wake in Fright: a pair of penniless down-on-their-luck foreigners arrive in a backwater Australian town located in the middle of sun-baked, dirt-slathered, sweat-stained nowhere. Radio 6PR, packs an EMOTIONAL WALLOP one of the most CAPTIVATING the plight of the outsider forced to adapt or face the consequences. "There's bad luck and decision-making that comes into it.". As director Gleeson himself says, "it might be an intensely Aussie experience, but its themes are universal". You also find yourself wondering why the Finns endured such a demeaning and potentially dangerous workplace. 01 00 53 14. Prior to production the director visited the hotel from time to time. Phil Thompson on Google (August 21, 2019, 5:02 am) Stopped here for some lunch, we had roast chicken and gravy rolls and a huge serve of wedges. Well, Canman and the documentarys crew, a tight-knit group led by director Pete Gleeson. aybe we should have some sort of competition jelly wrestling or wet T-shirt, one patron suggests, referring tothe new arrivals and their predecessors. "Once people are in there watching the film, we explore that a bit more.". The locals say it's a place where the flies are friendly and somewhere they are more than happy to regularly frequent, even if they pretty much have to provide their own entertainment. 560 Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie, WA, 6430. This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021. "Not quite sure what to expect," said one Coolgardie local who drove to nearby Kalgoorlie for the local premiere on Wednesday. Hotel Coolgardie is in cinemas from June 15. Many of the guys in the film have a few conflicts or elements of their past that theyre still trying to come to terms with and that comes out in how they relate to other people. According to the website, "Barmaids are an integral part of Outback Aussie culture and the original Workstay Country Pub Barmaids program was essentially for females," although some men occasionally get jobs. Among Gleesons inspirations are the documentaries of American film-maker Frederick Wiseman, who is known for a fly-on-the-wall style. Its a troubling portrait of small-town Australia and one thats sure to stir up controversy on theinternational film festival circuit. On a dusty highway between Australia's most isolated city and its largest gold pit lies Coolgardie - where the arrival every three months of a new pair of foreign backpackers to work the onl On a dusty highway between Australia's most isolated city and its largest gold pit lies Coolgardie - where the arrival every three months of a new pair of foreign backpackers to work the only bar in town is a keenly anticipated event. June 15, 2017. (855) 516-1090. What she is referring to, revealed in the documentarys final moments, is best left for viewers to discover themselves. The man behind a new documentary claiming to expose the dark side of life at a Goldfields hotel has defend his film from local criticism. At the motel, all rooms have a closet, a flat-screen TV, a private . The Miners Rest Motel. Are they still with us? Hotel Coolgardie (R16, 83mins)Directed by Pete Gleeson. Show more 10 Exceptional 1 reviews Price from 179 per night Check availability 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home walking distance to town Were working to restore it. "What the trailer was doing was playing off that image we have of that kind of wild west, larrikin, outback feel.". Your boss berates you from across the bar, and describes you as "fresh meat", laughing along with the leering men. 09:42 GMT 22 Jun 2017. History. Hotels with Free Wifi in Coolgardie. The Coolgardie of today is a pleasant inland town, which has retained many aspects of its rich and colourful past. When two Finnish girls take jobs in the town's pub, they find themselves in a trial of endurance, and soon realise that pouring pints is the least of their work. Jetstar ranks as the third most unpopular airline in the world, Why taking cough medicines with pholcodine can be deadly, even months beforesurgery, Devastated Kidman awarded special Cannes prize, misses ceremony. It doesn't get much realer than this. to DISTURBING verbal and physical violations Front Row Reviews, Hotel Coolgardie is to BOGANS what JAWS is to SHARKS. The Brag, an ethnography of LIBIDINAL MASCULINITY, BOOZING and CUSSING Senses of Cinema, a STAGGERING piece of work 'So we had to bite out tongues and be nice and polite, then cry behind closed doors. Hotel Coolgardie trailer: watch an outback Australian nightmare unfold Guardian Director Pete Gleeson's documentary, Hotel Coolgardie, explores what happens when two 20-something Finnish. FRESH OFF THE PLANE AND IN NEED OF MONEY, I hope that the movie is an eye-opener. Some leave a family behind, many find the work roster prohibits developing meaningful . 3.24. For something soaked in XXXX beer, Hotel Coolgardie is absolutely sobering, absolutely skin-crawling and absolutely necessary viewing. They experience Australian culture, thats for sure. Labelled "fresh meat" by locals, Lina and Stephie fast learnto deflect the near-constant pick up attempts from pub-goers who make a game out of trying to sleep with them. The film not only captures the experience of the two female backpackers at the centre of the story, but in scenes fuelled by alcoholic candour, it touches on an underlying sense of depression and loneliness among local men. 47 - 53 Bayley Street, Coolgardie, WA, 6429. The film is set in Coolgardie's Denver City Hotel where every three or so months new barmaids (yep, always women) are sent to the seriously isolated town for a stint behind the bar. We were in need of money and had to suck it up and try to keep face so that we could keep our job, she continues. "I was a bit sad, because it was never like that, I don't reckon. Coopers Crossing this ain't. Hotel Coolgardie is currently showing in limited cinemas around Australia. Hotel Coolgardie. DESCRIPTION. Lina and Stephie, the two Finnish backpackers followed in Hotel Coolgardie. It was supposed to be a subtle observation as to how that worked and where the line was in that transaction. Leigh Paatsch / 1116FM Radio SEN, a NIGHTMARE VERSION OF CHEERS While Lina is still in hospital, Stephie is told to pack their things and go. "I guess if you're from Goldfields tourism, you're not going to want to have viewers think what's in the film is emblematic or typical of the Goldfields experience," he said. Gleeson said he had told the story of "outsiders" trapped in a difficult situation. Our guests praise the restaurant and the helpful staff in our reviews. Described as "a nightmare version of Cheers" (POV Magazine) and "one of the most captivating Australian documentaries in recent memory" (Cinema Australia), HOTEL COOLGARDIE is a gripping portrait of outback Australia, as experienced by two ill-fated backpackers who find themselves the latest batch of "fresh meat" to work as barmaids in a remote mining town. The gruff pub owner cycles through female employees every three or so months,giving them food, money and a place to sleep in exchange for hard work and minimal complaints. Theyscore the dubious honour of being barmaids at the local watering hole in Coolgardie, a speck of a town 38 kilometres from Kalgoorlie populated predominantly by miners most of them men. They endure some truly impressive (if occasionally amusing) sexism with just a sprinkle of casual racism. Thats up to the audience to decide. Ive been thinking about the reasons for their behaviour. There was an error submitting the form. The characters we meet at the titular watering hole are fair dinkum. 6.8 1 h 23 min 2017 16+. Whenever I dropped in youd be able to pick how long the girls had been there by the look on their face or how well they were coping, he explains. Gleeson, a Perth local, decided to make the film after regularly spending time at the pub, confessing his own interest in the barmaids. This property offers access to a terrace, darts, free private parking and free WiFi. "The pub's like an institution, and you've got institutionalised behaviours going on in there that have been normalised over a number of years," he said. Hotel Coolgardie: disturbing doco follows two backpackers in the Australian outback. Tick to subscribe, untick to unsubscribe from any newsletters below: Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture. It was a good mixture of emotions really.". The director denied the film was one-dimensional or sensationalised. 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